Have you ever noticed that "cruel and unusual punishment", the famous standard for what will be considered the acceptable limit of legal punishment, in fact imp

Have you ever noticed that "cruel and unusual punishment", the famous standard for what will be considered the acceptable limit of legal punishment, in fact implicitly sanctions cruelty in our legal system? If severe cruelty is the norm then it is considered just, indeed even fair and necessary, that that cruelty be normalized and extended to all those under the punitive regime. There is a deep vein of cruelty in American history. I personally believe it is significantly rooted in Puritan theology - self-denial and self-abnegation are both forms of self-inflicted cruelty, and if one is cruel to oneself, both in daily practice and in the broader sense of ones philosophical beliefs and worldview (i.e. believing you are a sinner, believing you are in a state of perpetual spiritual disgrace), then cruelty becomes a foundational principle of your relationship with the world and other people.